Coleman Logo

Coleman began in 1900, when William Coffin Coleman saw a bright gasoline lamp in a store window in Brockton, Alabama. He had weak eyesight and was struck by how easily he could read under its white light. After early sales failed, he changed the model and offered lighting as a service, promising “no light, no pay.”

In 1903, Coleman started making lamps under the Coleman Arc Lamp name. A portable table model followed in 1909, and in 1914, the company released a lamp with 300 candlepower. The U.S. government distributed Coleman lamps to farmers during World War I to support food production. Output grew from 120 lamps in 1909 to 50,000 in 1920.

As rural electrification reduced demand for gasoline lamps in the 1930s, Coleman moved into oil heaters, gas floor heaters, and outdoor equipment. During World War II, its Model 520 portable stove served U.S. troops in North Africa. At the same time, the company produced shells and parts for the B-29 and B-17 bombers. After the war, the military stove helped shape Coleman’s camping products.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Coleman expanded into coolers, sleeping bags, lanterns, and tents as family camping grew in the United States. The brand competed with names such as Primus and bought Campingaz in 1996. After William Coleman died in 1953, the company was later acquired by Ronald Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes in 1989, Sunbeam in 1998, Jarden in 2004, and Newell Brands after its 2015 acquisition of Jarden.